Standard Lemma guide

underpay

verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N D ER0 P EY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To pay (someone) less than the value of their work; to pay (someone) insufficiently.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: misremunerate, mispay

2

verb

Meaning 2

To pay less than is due for (something).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • The underpaid letter was returned to the sender.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

pay too little

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: overpay

Broader terms: pay

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1én Proto-Indo-European *h1entér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dhí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dhér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English pay English underpay From under- + pay.

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: плащам недостатъчно (plaštam nedostatǎčno) — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 付給......過低的錢 /付给......过低的钱 (fùgěi ... guò dī de qián) — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 苛扣......工資 /苛扣......工资 (kē kòu ... gōngzī) — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Dutch: onderbetalen — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Finnish: maksaa liian pientä palkkaa — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • French: sous-payer — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • German: unterbezahlen — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Hungarian: alulfizet — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Italian: sottopagare — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Japanese: 十分に払わない (jūbin ni harawanai) — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Polish: niedopłacać — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Polish: niedopłacić — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Russian: недопла́чивать (nedopláčivatʹ) — to pay someone less than the value of their work
  • Russian: недоплати́ть (nedoplatítʹ) — to pay someone less than the value of their work